


Mage, Warrior, Thief

by Schnikeys_Discuss (Schnikeys)



Series: Clockie's Meta [29]
Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Analysis, Archived from radioactivesupersonic Blog, Character Analysis, Gen, Nonfiction, Originally Posted on Tumblr
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-04-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:07:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27067615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Schnikeys/pseuds/Schnikeys_Discuss
Summary: "Honestly, I wonder if there’s a kind of thief-warrior-mage divide between Zote, Hornet, and Ghost?"
Series: Clockie's Meta [29]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1974223
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	Mage, Warrior, Thief

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ClockworkRainbow](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClockworkRainbow/gifts).



Honestly, I wonder if there’s a kind of thief-warrior-mage divide between Zote, Hornet, and Ghost?

Ghost is a mid-range attacker who’s not _shabby_ with their nail by any means but canonically all their biggest achievements are with magic- when pressed to their limit in a do-or-die situation they just crack themselves open and turn loose the void and much of the game is attuning their power closer to it and grappling that raw eldritch force under their control since at first, their power is potentially endangering to them. Even if you can more or less pass over the Shade Soul, Descending Dark, Howling Wraiths and Abyss Shriek, they’re darn useful to have and two spells- the Vengeful Spirit and Desolate Dive- are essential to proceed.

Just from what we’re seeing of Silksong, Hornet comparatively doesn’t use magic. Emphasis is placed on her acrobatic skill (a function of physical strength and dexterity) and she makes up the difference with a lot of devices and different weapons. Even her thread attacks, which one could argue are a kind of magic, are used in Hollow Knight to set traps using mechanical components (the bundles of barbs she uses on Kingdom’s Edge) or to grapple her environment or enemies, further lending themselves to physical maneuvering. She’s also taller and seemingly stronger than Ghost physically, since she’s able to tackle and hold down the much larger Pure Vessel.

Now, Zote. We pretty much never see Zote fight. Physically, we know he’s not much in a straight cage match as he’s presented in the Colosseum of Fools, _but_ , he’s also somehow surviving the majority of Hallownest no problem, when he insists he always travels alone, is not obviously shadowing stronger people, and in the entirety of the game, he’s only captured a total of three times- once by the first Vengefly King, then by creatures in Deepnest (presumably Corpse Creepers, as that’s what you have to fight through to get there), and then by the Colosseum. Those odds are too much in his favor for him to be relying on luck- and he’s sure as hell not staying away from dangerous areas.

Hypothesis? Those three times are, to speak in D&D terms, the times he rolled badly on a stealth roll.

If Zote isn’t fast and athletic like Hornet, and he’s not the magical heavyweight Ghost is, it suggests he moves somewhat slowly through the kingdom, but given his relative lack of combat skills, the likeliest implication is he _avoids_ most confrontations. He’s likely a stealth combatant. There’s actually a fair amount in his Precepts that suggests this- while some of it clearly doesn’t line up with how he operates-

(his comment about “Strength beats strength”- while he does try to attack Ghost directly in the Colosseum, it seems mostly a product of his refusal to admit when he’s in over his head; it’s unlikely he tries to solve most of his problems this way, since if that were the case, he would be very dead, a lot faster than the Vengefly King can potentially get to him)

-he has three precepts around identifying and striking weak points, advocates theft and generally disregarding the law, and outright says not to show your enemies any respect. He also talks heavily about resource management and being suspicious of things and people in your environment. 

The version of Zote who’s a heavyweight brawler (Grey Prince) is an invention by Bretta, and, as Grey Prince loses subsequent fights, it makes it clear that Bretta wasn’t really listening to or paying much attention to who Zote really was. Comparatively the Eternal Ordeal, which _is_ based on Zote, is in a weird, out of the way place, and relies not on strength at all but on repeatedly changing the situation, wearing you down, debuffing you or dumping you into environmental hazards. And considering in Hollow Knight you _can_ defeat enemies by luring or juggling them into spikes, water, or acid, that’s honestly a solid possibility for Zote’s actual fighting style- which would further, nicely explain why he did so terribly in the Colosseum fight when he’s canonically someone who can survive Deepnest- the latter has plenty of hazards, room to flee, and places to hide that the native creatures make lavish use of- the Colosseum is brightly lit, wide open, and has none of its spikes or barriers deployed for that fight so it’s just a flat-footed power brawl.

It especially makes sense of how he’s that ineffective in that fight, and yet, is able to seemingly, effortlessly offscreen, hauling a Shielded Fool’s helmet which is more than the size of his entire body, make his way back from Kingdom’s Edge to Dirtmouth which you’d be hard-pressed to read as anything _but_ a display of competence. Especially since he’s not immune to acid, and seems to lack any particular jump skills.

* * *

[Last post](http://radioactivesupersonic.tumblr.com/post/184227389955/honestly-i-wonder-if-theres-a-kind-of) was entirely serious and I still stand by it but I also want to say it just occurred to me odds are at least decent that Zote just put the helmet over his entire body and Solid Snake’d his way cross-country to Dirtmouth.

Just, a helmet, running around with little Zote feet underneath it. It clonks into an obstruction and falls over and you can hear the faint echo of him muttering as he tries to tip himself back upright.

* * *

Tags: [#which naturally leads me to the mental image of Hornet and Zote reenacting that scene from PotC with the tipped-over boat](https://radioactivesupersonic.tumblr.com/tagged/which-naturally-leads-me-to-the-mental-image-of-Hornet-and-Zote-reenacting-that-scene-from-PotC-with-the-tipped-over-boat) [#Hornet incredulously staring at the back of Zote's head because she dually can't believe she was talked into this and also that it's working](https://radioactivesupersonic.tumblr.com/tagged/Hornet-incredulously-staring-at-the-back-of-Zote%27s-head-because-she-dually-can%27t-believe-she-was-talked-into-this-and-also-that-it%27s-working)

**Author's Note:**

> Analyses originally found here:  
> <https://radioactivesupersonic.tumblr.com/post/184227389955/honestly-i-wonder-if-theres-a-kind-of>  
> <https://radioactivesupersonic.tumblr.com/post/184228263720/last-post-was-entirely-serious-and-i-still-stand>


End file.
